recent acquisitions

Lumber firm Stella-Jones Inc. experienced double-digit growth in both sales and earnings for the quarter.

Slate Office REIT, $8.09, symbol SOT.UN on Toronto (Units outstanding: 30.1 million; Market cap: $243.2 million; www.slateofficereit.com), owns 34 office properties. In all, these buildings contain 44 million square feet....

Stella-Jones Inc., $49.00, symbol SJ on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 69.1 million; Market cap: $3.4 billion; www.stella-jones.com), makes pressure-treated wood products. They include: railway ties (45% of sales); utility poles (34%); treated lumber products for the residential market (12%); lumber for industrial uses such as construction timbers and highway guardrails (6%); and logs and lumber (3%). The company gets most of its utility poles from timberlands that it leases in Quebec and B.C. It also buys wood for railway ties and other products from sawmills in the U.S. and Canada. The U.S. also provides 82% of its sales, while Canada supplies the remaining 18%....

AGT FOOD & INGREDIENTS $36.46 (Toronto symbol AGT; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (604-231-1100; www.agtfoods.com; Shares outstanding: 23.9 million; Market cap: $840.7 million; Dividend yield: 1.7%) buys, processes and distributes a range of pulses—peas, beans, lentils and chickpeas—as well as other specialty crops.

Based in Saskatchewan, the company owns 13 processing plants in Canada, nine in Turkey, four in Australia, two in the U.S., one in China and another in South Africa.

In the three months ended March 31, 2016, AGT’s cash flow per share jumped to $0.83 from $0.37 a year earlier....

AGT FOOD & INGREDIENTS $36.46 (Toronto symbol AGT; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (604-231-1100; www.agtfoods.com; Shares outstanding: 23.9 million; Market cap: $840.7 million; Dividend yield: 1.7%) buys, processes and distributes a range of pulses—peas, beans, lentils and chickpeas—as well as other specialty crops. Based in Saskatchewan, the company owns 13 processing plants in Canada, nine in Turkey, four in Australia, two in the U.S., one in China and another in South Africa. In the three months ended March 31, 2016, AGT’s cash flow per share jumped to $0.83 from $0.37 a year earlier. Revenue gained 14.6%, to $441.4 million from $385.2 million. The increases stem from the company’s expanded processing and recent acquisitions, including short-line railways and bulk-loading facilities in Saskatchewan....

MONSANTO CORP., $99.94, New York symbol MON, develops and sells technology-based agricultural products, such as genetically modified seeds, to farmers, grain processors and food companies. It also sells weed- and pest-control products. The stock jumped 11% this week on speculation that German chemical and pharmaceutical maker Bayer AG may launch a takeover bid for the company. A merger would help both firms compete with rivals Dow Chemical Co. and DuPont Co, which plan to merge later this year. As well, China National Chemical Corp. agreed in February 2016 to acquire Switzerland-based Syngenta AG....

American Hotel Income Properties REIT, $10.08, symbol HOT.UN on Toronto (Units outstanding: 35.0 million; Market cap: $351.8 million, www.ahipreit.com), owns 80 hotels, comprising 7,072 rooms in 27 U.S. states. Of that total, 45 of the hotels operate under the Oak Tree Inn brand. For the most part, hotel guests are railroad workers. American Hotel believes this is a profitable niche market, as contracts with large railways keep occupancy rates high relative to the overall hospitality industry. The hotels are close to large rail-switching yards and hubs, and the railway contracts keep them about 75% occupied. The specially designed buildings feature crew shuttles and 24-hour food service....

ALPHABET INC., Nasdaq symbols GOOG (class C non-voting), $718.77, and GOOGL (class A voting), $737.77, is the new holding company for Google’s Internet search business and its smaller, riskier operations. The company calls those smaller businesses its “Other Bets”; they sell home thermostats, high-speed Internet and digital TV services—among other tech products. In the three months ended March 31, 2016, Alphabet’s revenue rose 17.4%, to $20.3 billion from $17.3 billion a year earlier. The Google search engine business accounted for 99% of the total. If you exclude traffic acquisition costs (fees that Google pays affiliates to redirect traffic to its websites), Alphabet’s revenue rose 18.4% to $16.5 billion. On that basis, revenue just missed the consensus forecast of $16.6 billion....

IAMGOLD CORP., $2.76, symbol IMG on Toronto, has a joint venture with Calibre Mining (symbol CXB on Toronto) to explore the Eastern Borosi silver/gold project in Nicaragua. The partners plan to spend $1.5 million U.S. this year on a 5,500-metre drilling program. They have already completed 11,400 metres of drilling since they formed their joint venture in May 2014. The drilling results have so far included several high-grade mineral showings. They include a 12.9m drilling section that graded at a high 8.73 grams per tonne of gold and 11.5 grams per tonne of silver....

GENERAL ELECTRIC CO., $31.11, New York symbol GE, is in a strong position to profit as the U.S. government normalizes relations with Cuba. This week, the company and the Cuban government agreed to explore potential deals. For example, GE’s turbines and expertise would help modernize Cuba’s oil-fired power plants. It’s also likely the Cuban government will want to upgrade its hospitals with GE’s X-ray, MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), ultrasound machines and other medical products. OUR RECOMMENDATION: GE is a buy....